Here Comes the Mystery Man

by Scott Russell Sanders

Children on the nineteenth-century American frontier wait expectantly for the arrival of the singing, story-telling Merchant Meeks, bringing with him not only a bulging sack of spices, cloth, pots,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0027781453
• ISBN13: 9780027781458
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Atheneum Books
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.7" x 11.2"
• Age Range: 5 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

The joy of the traveling peddler with his stories and goods to fascinate pioneer children

This book captures what must have been one of the greatest thrills among the settlers, the arrival of the iterant peddler. Generally isolated from all but a few people, the settler families would have been rooted to their farms and stock, unable to leave them for even a short distance and time. News from outside their immediate region would have been rare, so travelers would have been the only source of news. Another advantage of the peddler is that he would also bring goods that the settler families had never seen before. The Goodwin's own a farm outside of the nearest village of Brookville and as the fall harvest progresses, the word gets passed that the peddler is coming. This leads to an immediate high state of excitement among the four children. Their cabin is on the natural travel route, so they are tense with excitement as they wait for him to arrive. Finally, after dark, they hear the clanging of his wares and they all rush out to greet him. They offer him a hearty meal and a place to stay the night, hoping that he will entertain them with tales from afar and with new goods that will astound them. The peddler eats hearty and then shows them a compass, a whale tooth and gives each of them a small piece of maple candy. As they go to sleep, the children are content, for they know that while he will be gone in the morning, they will see the peddler once again in the spring. It is hard for the modern child to appreciate how isolated settler families were. This book helps children relate to those times and how exciting it was to hear new stories and see the traveling peddlers and minstrels, who provided a much needed service, the opportunity to experience something new.